Firewire Cable Box Compatibility

This is a compatibility list for using Firewire with Mythtv. If you use firewire and it works (or doesn't) please fill in the table below.

Note: With the availability of CableCard tuners in the US, most users will likely want to choose that route instead of Firewire for direct capture. This does not apply to Canada where CableCard units are not required to be supported by cable companies.

I can tune to any channel that is active on the box. Some channels are always problematic, some give no problems. I prime the port twice an hour if nothing is recording from the box, and get very reliable recordings from known good channels. Without priming it would get mostly failures when recording.

After trying a variety of firewire chipsets, the ones that work the best are the latest Agere chips FW323 v61 with no priming ( More Details Here) As for tuning, some SD channels simply will not work, for example all the Galaxy music only channels between 401 and up (we use our low def tuners via svideo for those). All our HD channels work including the "HD Plus" channels like Discovery HD, National Geographic HD, A&E HD, HD Movie channels, etc. However the 5C flag has been on in the past and maybe in the future.

All non premium or Pay for view channels until last spring. Now only digital channels...and only sporadically

For about a year or so, MythTV worked amazingly well for me under Fedora 4 using the Firewire on my DCT-6200. Then, without warning, it became sporadic. It seems that they introduced a firmware update (I don't remember the version number) that broke it for me. After that point, all analog channels could only be accessed if I first changed the channels with a remote. Even then, they would crop off part of the picture. Digital channels still show up, but only when the firewire hasn't randomly shuffled nodes on me. It's almost impossible now to have a stable DVR with it, but I can still record digital channels from time to time. Before Time Warner took over from Comcast, several channels were 5c'd. Examples include: Discovery HD and ESPN HD. However, that is no longer the case. I don't use any premium channels, and so 5c has become a non-issue for me most of the time. I eagerly hope that the firewire code will recieve an overhaul soon to be compatible out of the box with the new kernels, and I hope that that will solve the firewire shuffling problem. (Unfortunately, I think that problem is TWC related. Might try getting a new box if I can ever get over my laziness about it) Incidentally, I am now running it under Ubuntu 7.04. (I switched after it stopped working)

Some brief testing with the OSX FireWire SDK and VLC. Changing channel via remote. The only channels that appeared to be available were the local networks, the live video portion of the TVguide and PPV preview channels, and the music channels (with slideshow).

Using the SA4250HDC/Point-to-point/100MB setting in Myth. Only works with one cable box: recordings revert to noise as soon as two boxes have been used. All SD and HD channels (including premium) work. Update (6/1/09): Cablevision seems to have disabled firewire for all premium channels...investigating.

Cable box is set up in MythTV as a Motorola DCT 6200 using a Broadcast connection. I don't subscribe HBO or other premium channels but HD channels like ESPN and Discovery come in fine. Connecting via point-to-point was flaky and not as reliable as broadcast.

Using the 62xx box I had lots of trouble with glitches every 60 seconds, but this box has been rock solid even with the VIA firewire chipset. I had to modify 6200ch to work with it, I also added the option to power it on and off. No 5c channels YET.

Working great in Broadcast mode (P2P works just not as solid). The only channel I've come across that wont function is Comedy Central HD (SD works fine). This is a relatively new HD channel in the lineup too, so I'm hoping that 5C encryption on new channels isnt a new thing with Cox.

Worked out-of-the-box with "generic" firewire STB setup. Channel changing works with 6200ch.c, if you pass it the firewire node using the "-g" flag. Don't know about 5C encryption on premium channels, but works fine with "standard" HD channels (HGTVHD, etc.) that Mediacom decided to scramble for some stupid reason.

Rosewill RC-501 firewire card / p2p / 100MB / generic STB / disable firewire bus reset / channel changes with 6200ch patched for 4 digit channel numbers. Use the firewire_primer.sh script for channel changes. Verizon uses CCI and as long as CCI is set to 0x00 or 0x01 and DRM is set to 0x00 or 0x01 the channel seems to work. Tune channel, press power button the put box in standby and then press "OK" twice to bring up menu or use scanfw from mythbuntu. scanfw is also available in the KnoppMyth/LinHES R6 repos. UPDATE:Changed hardware to use onboard TI TSB43AB22/A firewire controller and it works well too.

Mythbuntu 9.04 2:0.21.0+fixes-22228-openglvdpau2-0ubuntu0 - used patches for /usr/bin/6200ch to compile with DCX3200 support. Broadcast is only option (no p2p) and the channels that work are so few I'm probably going to buy the HD-PVR.

Screwed with this for days to no avail. Called cable company who said 1394 ports are disabled. I let them know they were in violation of FCC ruling and would be filing complaint. My 1394 port started working. Like MAGIC. MythDora 10 P2P 400MB/s.

Had to add new ID "DCX-3200" to firewiredevice.cpp and recompile. Internal channel changer did not work. Added model ID 0x0000f760 to 6200ch.c and used 6200ch as the external channel changer. Working P2P @ 100Mbps and 400Mbps but most of my testing was done with it set 400Mbps. Running Fedora 13 mythtv-0.23-fixes.

Mythbuntu 9.10 (0.23-fixes)-set up as a DCT-6200 P2P at 400Mbps. LiveTV seems to have some instability but regular recordings work a treat. Did not add an external channel change script. Music choice channels and Encore do not work, I don't subscribe to anything premium. Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A. Update: I have since switched to an HD-PVR as the LiveTV was too unstable for my liking.

Ubuntu 10.04 (0.23-fixes). Using a VIA PCI firewire card from monoprice and firewire tuner setup as Motorola DCH3200 using P2P at 100Mbps. LiveTV works well and box automatically powered on and changes to desired channel for a recording. Did not need add an external channel change script.

Works in Broadcast Mode at 100 megabits. Using Mythbuntu 10.04 . Channel change works great with 6200ch script no modifications required except to specify the node id in 6200ch source before compile. I have seen stability differences between external FW card and internal FW. Ptp does not work. Firewire on STB seems to not want to "come on" right away. Play around with different methods of booting the box with FW attached. Worked through this guide: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/FireWire

Using gentoo. Setup tests were erratic but broadcast mode at 400MB/s is mostly stable. P2P mode is a dud on this model's firmware. Subscribed movie channels with Pacific offset capture as expected. About 130 channels do not complete the channel change / signal lock process. Capture of these channels die with the PAT too large error. Strangely, this appears to be mostly SD channels and possibly east coast originating channels (speculation). Use 6200ch -G <guid> -4 for decent results.

STB doesn't send a valid PAT/PMT. Mythbackend will not get a lock and capture without modifying firewiresignalmonitor.cpp to create a fake PAT/PMT table. Even then some channels are not usable because mythfrontend may get confused when trying to playback the non-compliant transport stream. Research on the mailing list confirms that there are several other users with similar problems with the RNG110, whether they know it or not. If it does work for some people for 100% of channels I wonder if they have a different firmware. However mplayer will playback all channels/transport streams I have tried to capture, it doesn't seem to care that there is information missing.

Set up as a DCT6200, Point to Point, 400Mbps. Works perfectly, and even seems to be stable with live TV. Firewire chipset seems to be very important. I initially used a VIA VT6307-based Firewire card; the resulting video was unwatchable. I then swapped out that card for an NEC PD72874-based card, and it started working right away. Your mileage may vary, but if you're having trouble, definitely try a different Firewire controller.

Fedora 14 x64. Using onboard LSI FW323 card. Point-to-point at 400Mbps is very stable (broadcast works also). Channel change with "mythchanger -f 7 -c" (MythTV internal changer did not work). Before getting DCX-3200 I had DCH-3200 - which worked only in in broadcast mode, and would refuse changing channels after every few days (required power reset and re-priming to fix, very annoying). DCX-3200 works much better!

Using Point-to-Point everything works perfectly. I originally tried broadcast, but kept getting errors. I had to add the info for this cable box to 6200ch and use it to change channels, but everything is working very well now. Fedora 14 x64, Gigabyte GA-M61P-S3 motherboard w/ on-board firewire.

Using P2P at 400Mbps, it provides a solid picture on broadcast channels, but does not include basic cable channels (though they are picked up with a cable card tuner). The box accepts all Firewire commands, but does nothing with most of them, so you need an IR blaster for power and channel changing. The "USA Set Top Box Test Specification" at http://www.1394ta.org/developers/specifications.html shows which commands the FCC requires to have working. It is supposed to have power on, power off, and tune working. The status query works, so at least you can check to see if it needs a power command. I spent a long time on the phone with Verizon tech support, and their Cisco firmware person reported back that they are only required to provide video out. I filed a complaint with the FCC, citing http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2010-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2010-title47-vol4-sec76-640.xml

all other channels are encrypted and get a partial lock error (error occurs with every setting I have tried only) Using P2P at 400Mbps or Broadcast at 400Mbps it provides a okay picture but I do not have HD, picture is the same quality when view from cable box to tv. The box accepts Firewire channel changing.

I get a partial lock on a select few of my premium chans with boxes in broadcast mode at 400mbps i have 3x tuners in total using the dct6200 in a daisy chain with the dcx3400 at the end of the chain.. had to modify 6200ch to accept my dcx3400 but it is working great now a little lag when all three boxes are recording/playing but i think thas due to my firewire not the boxes themselves
VERY pleased

MythTV did not work for me on my MacBookPro with OS 10.9 but I was able to use FireRecord 0.51. Under Preferences then General I put in Chanel 702 as Default Chanel to get the app to change the Chanel right before recording. Then under devices tab I set the Tuning to use Motorola. If you pick Scientific Atlanta then it dose not seem to work for changing Channels.